I Dare You
by dream vs nightmare
Summary: "So what d'you say, Mr. Jacobs?" Henry comes back to himself, then, blinking the stardust of it all out of his eyes. Maybe not all of it, though, because in the next moment, he moves to press a lingering kiss to Jo's neck, and for a single wisp of a second he almost forgets what it's all for.


Or the one where it's all for a case, right up until it's not.

Tumblr prompt from jo-martinez: Henry moving Jo's hair out of the way so he can clasp a necklace for her.

It started out sweet and then got kinda...well. You'll see.

* * *

"So…how do I look?" Jo says as she turns 'round to face him, giving him a curious tilt of her head and a dangerously soft smile.

"I must say, darling, you look…" His gaze sweeps over her, then, lingering a touch longer than usual so as to play his part right. He tells himself that it's just for the case and nothing more as his eyes move over Jo's dark hair, symmetrical face, and warm, warm eyes. He tells himself it's all for a murder and nothing further as he glances to her dress, sunset pink, the expanse of her shoulders, bare and tanned from long days spent in the sun, and her long, long legs as she stands before the dressing room mirrors with him.

And there's a moment where he doesn't quite remember what he was saying, can't quite recall the word they'd agree on using, because somewhere between her soft smile and her sunset dress and her large, warm eyes, he's forgotten all manner of speech.

The sales clerk, a grinning young woman with hazel eyes and dark skin, slips out the room with a knowing smile, murmuring that she'll be back in just a moment. He thinks her name Eloise, and imagines that to her, he must've looked every bit the part of newly-wedded husband, there, falling speechless as he looked to Jo in her party dress and heels. And when she's gone, Henry gives the good Detective a smile of his own as he takes a single step towards her.

"My apologies, Jo." He gives a little duck of his head as the words leave his lips.

"Hey, it's no problem, Henry." She says in reply as she steps out of her heels a moment, hand falling to his shoulder to keep herself steady. "Everyone slips up undercover. And even with the slip up, we still got what we came here for."

He nods his agreement and says, "That we did. And I do believe Hanson owes you a good deal of money when we get back to the precinct."

Jo gives a little shake of her head and murmurs, "Somehow, I don't think twenty bucks is a good deal of money."

She adds, "But okay, have it your way, Andrew" around that of a smile as Eloise walks into the room once more. Henry thanks her for the glittering necklace she presents them with as she stops a ways away from them.

"I thought it'd really complete the look. You only do this sort of thing once, y'know?"

Henry barely registers what the sales clerk's saying, now, only has eyes for Jo as he takes the artful strand of diamonds and brings them 'round the curve of Jo's collar bone.

Her hair's grown longer and fuller in the last few months they've known each other, so try as she might, she can't seem to clasp the necklace herself. No matter which way she turns her head, she misses the mark each time. So Henry, slipping into the role of lovestruck and newly-wed once more, murmurs, "I've got it, darling, just a moment" as he moves to brush her hair back and out of the way.

A wave of her perfume rolls over him, then, subtle and sweet and warm. He leans into the scent, into her, as his fingers brush the nape of her neck and clasp the diamond strand together. His fingertips wander down the length of her spine and ghost over the warm skin of her back, made bear and visible by the dress' design, and he loses himself in the illusion for a moment. Husband and wife, Mr. and Mrs., vacationing on wide, white stretches of sand and swimming in cool, blue leagues of water. Jo, too, seems lost in the thought of it, and leans into his touch without any semblance of prompting on Henry's part. And in that moment, he thinks they fit together, he and her. He thinks they look right together, he and her, as they stand before the mirror in this lavish dressing room.

"So what d'you say, Mr. Jacobs?" Henry comes back to himself, then, blinking the stardust of it all out of his eyes.

Maybe not all of it, though, because in the next moment, he moves to press a lingering kiss to Jo's neck, and for a single wisp of a second he almost forgets what it's all for. He pulls away a touch to clear his head, then, looking to the Detective with a grin as he murmurs, "I'd say she looks lovely. Absolutely, unendingly lovely."

It's not a lie - and in that moment, he knows he's not even saying it for the sake of their cover anymore. And once he's started, he simply cannot stop, seems to have no control over the waterfall of soft, sweet words that leave his mouth. "Of course, though, she looks lovely every day."

He wonders if she's taken note of the way he's started doing that, lately - paying no mind to the compliments that leave his lips and caring not if she takes them for pick-up lines. Because somewhere between making jokes on her empirical hotness and scientific comments on her attractiveness, he's come to realize that she is lovely, and he cannot deny her that fact under this pretense or any other.

Without another word said between them, Henry moves to tuck a stray strand of hair back behind her ear as yet another smile curves his lips upwards, this one slow to bloom but infinitely, infinitely warmer. And Jo looks somewhere between wide-eyed and wonderstruck as he dares leans forward and presses a tender kiss to her nose.

Eloise's voice sounds distant and far-away when she asks, "So I assume you'll take it?" some beats of his heart later.

Henry's gaze moves over Jo anew, then, taking his time in a way he hadn't before. Making it count in a way he hadn't before.

His eyes sweep over her face a long moment before they dip down to her figure, lingering in places he hasn't dared look when he knows she's watching. But she's watching him, now - he can feel the heat of her gaze on his face as he looks and looks and looks.

"Well…since these things only happen once." Henry murmurs low and warm as he nears even closer to Jo, his hands coming to settle over the curve of her hips. He's close enough that his breath ghosts over the set of her lips when he says, "I do believe we'll take it" around a warm and crooked smile.

She stands breathless in the circle of his arms as Eloise claps her hands together and murmurs, "Great! I'll be right back!"

He barely notices when she leaves the room again, her footfalls soft and muted on the plush carpeting. The spell doesn't fade in the slightest once she's gone, and he can almost forget that they're here for a case, for a murder, as he moves to cup Jo's chin in his hand. The space between them narrows into something close and comfortable, almost heated, as his gaze flickers between her darkening eyes and her parted lips.

"Do stop me any time if this isn't the slightest bit what you want, Mrs. Jacobs…" He says a breath away from Jo's mouth, and all pretense of their cover falls clean away when she lets out a breathless, "Wait, wait. Henry, I don't think I can do this" as he draws all the nearer.

Henry pulls away to regard her, then, spell shattering at their feet as he ventures a soft, "Is something wrong, Jo?"

His pulse echoes in his ears in the space between his question and her answer, and he thinks he's never been made so weak in the knees quite so fast as he'd been just a moment ago. Because in that moment, she'd looked at him like the feelings behind all the smoke and mirrors were completely and utterly _real._

So he can hardly think, can hardly breathe, as she shakes her head at him and murmurs, "It's too real. And I'm too close to it, I can't…" around a smile, voice thick with the weight of the _something_ that'd hung heavy in the air between them just a minute ago.

"Because if I kiss you now, it's not gonna be an act." Jo says as their gazes meet, the two of them still standing close enough that her breath kisses the stubbled skin of his jaw.

Eloise walks into the room, then, garment bag in hand, just as Henry dares whisper, "So go ahead, then. Kiss me" in a voice that flirts and flirts and flirts.

Jo's gaze falls from his eyes to his lips and lingers there a long moment before she pulls away from him, murmuring in a voice so low, only he can hear her. "Dare ya to say that again in the car."

"Oh, and I dare you to find a way to quiet me." Henry says around a wicked smile as he licks the inside of his lower lip, steady gaze warming with a smolder.

She steps away from him and moves over to Eloise, then, saying that she'd be happy to talk payment with her. When the girl isn't paying attention, she turns to look at him over her shoulder and mouths _challenge accepted,_ the twin to his smile on her lips.

And he knows right then and there that Jo Martinez will be the death of him.

* * *

I regret nothing. ;) And neither does my ship.

Feel free to go and fill my tumblr ask box with prompts - I'd be more than happy to fill them!


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